


bonding

by iwaizumemes (skytramp)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Domestic, Gen, Growing Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 07:40:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3969589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skytramp/pseuds/iwaizumemes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Here they could be themselves, they could talk and share, about everything and nothing, or they could just lay, watch the light as it bounced off the starry patterned fabric above them, pretending it was the night sky.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	bonding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ColonelChanSan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColonelChanSan/gifts).



> This is a gift for Vicki aka @colonelchansan on twitter. 
> 
> <333

It started when Akiteru was eleven and left for a sleep away camp, three days in the wilderness with a youth group. Kei, four years old, perpetually wide-eyed and missing his big brother, had crawled over to his bed and under the covers. When their mother went to wake him up, after a frantic few heartbeats of panic when she saw Kei’s empty bed, Kei was snuggled, all four limbs wrapped around his brother’s pillow, nose deep in the fabric, sound asleep. 

It continued, every time Akiteru was away for more than a night, their mother would find Kei in his bed. They never talked about it, she didn’t know if Akiteru even knew it happened, but, by the way that Kei would shyly smile at breakfast, his tousled blonde hair a messy cloud around his head, she knew that it comforted him in a way that her words never could. 

The last time she caught him at it, she woke Kei for his first day of high school. It had been years since the last time, her sons had had a falling out that was messy and terrible and she didn’t know how to fix it. The sight of Kei, nothing but limbs and the soft fabric of his pajamas, curled around Akiteru’s old pillow in the vacated bed told her everything would be alright, it may take a while, but everything would be alright with her boys. 

#

The blankets were draped between three or four chairs, stapled to one wall, and pinned to the door frame. The floor was scattered with every pillow in the house and they sat cross legged in the glow from their flashlights. 

Beneath the blanket fort they were in a world of their own, safe from the outside, where things like school and friends and parents got in the way. Here they could be themselves, they could talk and share, about everything and nothing, or they could just lay, watch the light as it bounced off the starry patterned fabric above them, pretending it was the night sky.

#

The sweatshirt hung past Kei’s fingertips. It had been Akiteru’s, but, finally, at age thirteen he’d outgrown it and their mother insisted he hand it down to Kei. Kei was overjoyed, he bounded out of their bedroom and down the stairs with dangerous speed, struggling to stop when his socks slid on the kitchen tiles. 

“Nii-chan, look! It fits!” He cried and Akiteru laughed until he couldn’t breathe. 

Their mother giggled too, where she stood by the stove. When she served their breakfast, Kei crawling over to sit on Akiteru’s lap despite the lack of space, he refused to take the sweatshirt off. 

“But I like it!” He insisted.

“You’re going to get the sleeves dirty, Kei.” Their mother replied but Kei popped out his bottom lip and crossed his arms, as if holding the sweatshirt tighter to his body would make their mother agree. 

Eventually she did agree, realizing that fighting her stubborn younger son on this would make everything more difficult than it needed to be, besides, Kei’s sleeves were being pulled up by Akiteru, who took special care that his brother didn’t spill anything on his new favorite thing. 

#

“Read it again?” Kei’s voice was sleepy, his words slurred and his eyes drifting shut. 

Akiteru was in his brother’s bed, half sitting with his arm wrapped around the smaller boy. It was a picture book, bright colored pictures splashed across the pages, and every night Akiteru told a story to the images while Kei fell asleep. He knew that Kei would be asleep in seconds, and he himself had school in the morning, but he opened the book again, turning to the beginning and began the story anew. 

“One more chapter?” Kei asked, the book was different, some adventure novel, and Kei was different too, but he still fit under Akiteru’s arm. Kei’s glasses had long ago drifted to the side table, and despite the fact that he could read for himself, he was content to listen to the sound of his brother’s voice, quiet in his ear. 

“It’s a school night.” Akiteru said. 

“I know. One more chapter?” 

Akiteru didn’t reply, he just turned the page and began reading. 

Picture books turned to novels turned to encyclopedia articles about Kei’s favorite animals. They laid together, night after night, learning facts and figures about the world around them, Kei snuggled under Akiteru’s arm, insisting on just _one_ more before he let himself fall asleep.


End file.
